How to Cook Couscous
Since couscous is an ingredient better known in international cuisine than American, some people think of it as "exotic" and shy away from learning how to cook couscous. But this granular pasta with North African roots could hardly be more basic. And it's a cinch to prepare: The fast-cooking variety needs only as long as it takes to soak up boiled water or hot broth -- just a few moments, and it's done.Use couscous in much the same way as you would rice or another grain. Add it to soups or stews, serve it as a side dish or use it chilled in salads. Couscous is an especially good choice if you're making a broth-based meal since it cooks by absorbing the liquid, and thus the flavor.
You can use couscous a variety of dishes, as you would rice or another grain. Add it to soups or stews, serve it as a side dish or even use it chilled in salads. Couscous is an especially good choice if you're cooking a broth-based meal since it cooks by absorbing the liquid, and thus the flavor. Once you discover all of its possibilities, couscous will become a pantry staple.
Below, couscous teams up with fresh mushrooms, tomatoes and a blend of flavorful herbs for a light and savory side dish recipe you can make in just 20 minutes.
Transcript
Hi. I'm Miranda with Recipe.com and, today, I'm gonna show
you how to make Herbed Couscous and Vegetables. So, quick
cooking couscous teamed up with mushrooms and tomatoes make this
a quick and delicious 20-minute side dish. I have our
ingredients all laid out here so let's get started. So
let's start with our ingredients. We have one cup of
sliced mushrooms, I'm using button mushrooms here; one tablespoon of
butter; one cup of water; one tablespoon of fresh snipped
parsley; 1-1/2 teaspoons of snipped fresh basil or a half
of a teaspoon of dry basil, if that's what you
have on hand; half of a teaspoon of snipped fresh
oregano, or an eighth of a teaspoon of dry oregano;
a quarter of a teaspoon of salt; a dash of
pepper; two-thirds a cup of quick cooking couscous; and then
one medium tomato, chopped. So what we're going to begin
to do is turn on this medium-sized little pan here
and we're going to cook the mushrooms in this butter
until they're nice and tender. And that will take just
a couple of minutes in the pan. Okay, so my
mushrooms are getting nice and tender, a little bit brown.
It's now time to carefully, 'cause you're dealing with a
really hot pan, add in the water, and then all
of our fresh herbs here, and the salt and the
pepper, and we're gonna bring this up to a boil
before adding in our couscous. This has come to a
boil. The herbs, it smells fantastic, so let's just add
in our couscous. We are going to leave our tomatoes
to the side. We've not forgotten about them. Those will
go in the end. So turn off our heat, give
this a nice stir, pop that cover back on, and
let this sit and cook for about 5 minutes or
until the liquid gets nice and absorbed. All right, so
it's been 5 minutes. Look how perfectly this couscous has
cooked and absorbed the liquid. Fantastic. Smells great. Love all
the fresh herbs. Now, all we're gonna do is just
stir in our tomatoes. Great. Look at that. How easy?
Something a little bit different maybe than, you know, standard
rice. Nice little interesting grain. Look how pretty and colorful
this is. Looks great. This would be great with like
any sort of meat as a side dish or you
could even pair it with a salad. So many things
you could do. I'm gonna garnish this with some fresh
parsley. That's optional but I think it adds a nice
little extra something. And there you go. Easy and delicious.
That's how you make Herbed Couscous and Vegetables.
What You'll Need
- 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon margarine or butter
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
- 1-1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon snipped fresh oregano or 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Dash pepper
- 2/3 cup quick-cooking couscous
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- Fresh parsley sprigs (optional)
Step By Step
1
In a medium saucepan cook mushrooms in hot margarine or butter until tender.
2
Carefully add water to saucepan. Stir in snipped parsley, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring to boiling. Stir in couscous. Remove from heat.
3
Cover and let stand about 5 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed. Stir in tomato. If desired, garnish with fresh parsley sprigs. Makes 4 servings.
Knowing how to cook couscous is an easy way to vary your recipe repertoire and to introduce new textures and flavors.
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